Theosophy Trust

Memorial Library

HIDDEN HINTS
IN THE SECRET DOCTRINE - Part I

From Pages 1 to 67, Vol. I

A PROPHECY. In the 20th century - 1900 - the scholars of our era will begin to recognize that the Secret Doctrine has neither been invented nor exaggerated, but simply outlined - Vol.I, Intro. p. xxxvii. In other places the author hints at surprises in store in the way of manuscripts, etc. It would seem that by 1900 some "discoveries" will be made by scholars that will support our author. "Once the door permitted to be kept a little ajar, it will be opened wider with every new century. The times are ripe for a more serious knowledge than hitherto permitted." Vol, I, p. xxxviii, footnote. "We have not long to wait, and many of us will witness the Dawn of the New Cycle, at the end of which not a few accounts will be settled and squared between the races." V. I, Intro. xliv.

AN ARCHAIC MANUSCRIPT. Some of the doctrines given out are found by her in a collection of palm - leaves made impervious to the elements by some unknown process. Proem V. I, p.I. It is well known that some of the most ancient eastern manuscripts are on palm-leaves which are cut in oblong, narrow form and tied with a string. How is this seen by her? Either in the astral light or objectively, being brought to her table. By whom or what?

CONTINUITY OF PLAN FROM ONE MANVANTARA TO ANOTHER. In this old MS. it is said (Proem) that during the pralaya the plan for the next manvantara slumbers until the dawn of the next evolution, when its potential power goes forth to action. There is, therefore, a continuity from manvantara through pralaya to succeeding manvantara. Continued on pp. 4 and 5 of V. I.

THE BASIS OF AFFINITY, hence for all correlations of force. It is stated that Leucippus taught an occult law when he declared, 500 B.C., that the lateral motion of atoms is the root for affinity and correlation of force. V. I, p. 2.

EACH PERIOD OF EVOLUTION is sui generis. "Yet at each new manvantara, its organization [speaking of the cosmos] may be regarded as the first and the last of its kind, as it evolutes every time on a higher plane." V. I, p. 3.

A NEW ELEMENT AT THE END OF OUR 4TH ROUND. "Occult science recognizes Seven Cosmical Elements, four entirely physical, the fifth - Ether - semi-material, as it will become visible in the air toward the end of our 4th Round, to reign supreme over the others during the whole of the 5th Round." Vol. I, p. 12.

AKASA AND MANAS CORRESPOND. See footnote p. 13, Vol. I. "That Akasa, the fifth universal Cosmic Principle - to which corresponds and from which proceeds human Manas - is, cosmically, a radiant, cool, diathermanous, plastic matter, creative in its physical nature, correlative in its grossest aspects and portions, immutable in its higher principles." It must therefore follow, under the law of correspondences, that manas in the seven-fold division is creative, correlative, and immutable in the same way and portions as stated for I.

MANAS IN THE 5TH ROUND. By following out the correspondence we find that as Ether, the lower form of Akasa, now semi-material, will become visible in the air at the end of this Round - the 4th - so manas, now only semi-developed in this race, will be further evolved in the 5th Round, at the same time with the parent source, and as the form of Ether spoken of will then be the superior element in nature, so at the same time the superior principle reigning in the septenary constitution of man will be manas. The full development of manas imposes full responsibility on the race, and thus we see how the turning point is reached and what it may mean, and also what is the meaning of the "moment of Choice." With full responsibility the choice must be made by the race which thus has perfected manas. It is for and towards that period that the Masters of Wisdom are now working so as to prepare the present Egos for the momentous days when the choice of the good or evil path must be intelligently made.

And as in many places in the Secret Doctrine the author says that we are the same egos who were in the Atlantean bodies, and that they had a very weighty karma, we may perceive why it is that we are those who will be compelled to make the great choice for good or evil destiny in the next Round.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EFFECT OF GREAT AND MINOR PRALAYA. The question "What happens to the planets during a minor pralaya or dissolution? is answered in footnote p. 18, V.I. They are dead, as it were, but not dissolved, for as she says, "they remain intact as a huge animal caught and imbedded in the polar ice remains the same for ages." After the great Pralaya no planets remain in corporibus, but all are dissolved, their akasic "photographs" alone remaining. This must be taken metaphorically, or else we will again make objective that which is subjective. But in a minor pralaya the "dead planets" are objective in space, but with all their active life and energy gone.

DHYAN CHOHANS NOT THE ONLY TERM FOR THE HIGHEST BEINGS. "Each of the various groups has its own designation in the Secret Doctrine." V. I, p. 22, lines 8, 9. Nor are they personifications of powers in nature. Vol. I, p. 38, line 18.

EACH ROUND has its special class of Dhyanis to watch over it. The same for races, p. 42, Vol. I. (a). The present round is watched especially by the Fourth Class of Dhyanis.

THE ABSOLUTE NOT UNDERSTOOD by the Dhyan Chohans. p. 51, Vol. I, line 16. And yet some theosophists ask to have definitions or explanations of the Absolute. We heard of one who claimed to have "communed with the Absolute."

THE BREATH OF BRAHMA. This may be said to be the same as "The Eternal Breath" spoken of in the Secret Doctrine. It is motion, and proceeds through space ceaselessly. It does not stop during the pralayas. p. 55, Vol. I, line 11.

IDEALS AND TYPES IN THE ASTRAL LIGHT. The prototype is present in an ideal form in the Astral Light from dawn to night during the manvantaric period - everything from man to mite, from giant trees down to the tiniest blade of grass. p. 63, Vol. I, 1st para. There is a clear correspondence here with the formation of the astral man, which is the copy, plan, or prototype on which the corporeal man is formed.

THE PRIMORDIAL FORM of every manifested thing is like that of an egg. p. 65, Vol. I. A paramahansa once wrote for the Theosophist an article in which he said that theosophy was that Branch of Masonry which showed the universe in the form of an egg.

THE VERBUM, OR WORD, AND ITS FORCE. All religions speak of "the Word." The Jews, from whom the Christians get their religion, say that the all-powerful name of God if pronounced will shake the Universe; the Freemasons speak of the lost word; the Hindus tell of the great word; it is the Greek logos. The question is often raised, "Supposing there be such a word, wherein is its force?" H.P.B. says it is in motion and not in number. Note I, p. 67, Vol. I. The Hebrew Kaballah leans more to number, as being the force of power of this word.

From Pages 67 to 128 Vol. I

MATTER DURING PRALAYA. It is in a state of great tenuity seen only by Bodhisattvas. When evolution begins again it appears like curds in space. V. I, p. 69.

ELECTRICITY AN ENTITY. V. I, p. 76, line 6; it is an emanation from an Entity of power, p. 111, footnote, and is coexistent with the one life, p. 81; it is primordial matter of a special nature, p. 82.

PULSATION OF THE HEART AND THE TIDES. Probably due to the universal expanding and contracting of the atoms, which in turn are caused by the expansion and contraction of matter of space. V. I, p. 84. "There is heat internal and heat external in every atom," id.

TWO SORTS OF FIRE OR HEAT. One in the central Sun and the other in the manifested universe and solar system. V. I, p. 84, 87.

MAGICAL POTENCY OF WORDS is in the vowel sounds and not in the numbers. V.I, p. 94.

THE TERM "HUMAN" IS NOT TO BE CONFINED TO THIS GLOBE. It must be applied to all entities who have reached the fourth stage of development on any planet in space in its fourth round in any chain of planets. V. I, p. 106, 2d para.

BUDDHI AS COMPARED WITH SPIRIT is material, although for us and the highest conceptions we can form it is wholly beyond materiality. V. I, p. 119,line 7.

THE HUMAN MONAD is the union of the ray from the absolute with the soul. V. I, p. 119, para. I.

SYMBOLISM AND NUMBERS. They are intimately connected with the hosts of the Dhyan-Chohans. The basic numbers refer each to distinct groups of ideas which vary according to the group of Dhyan Chohans referred to. In other places the author says that, as the Dhyanis are connected with evolution in all its intricacies and mysteries, it follows that symbolism is of the highest importance. V. I, p. 119 (b).

THE ONE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF OCCULT SCIENCE is "the radical unity of the ultimate essence of each constituent part of compounds in Nature - from Star to mineral Atom, from the highest Dhyan Chohan to the smallest infusoria." And this is to be applied spiritually, intellectually, and physically. V. I, p. 120, last para.

KARMA NEEDS MATERIAL AGENCIES to carry out its decrees. V.I, p. 123, line 2. The material agents spoken of here are not merely those that we class as such, but many others which are generally conceived of by us as spiritual. For, as said above, even Buddhi is material when compared with Atman of which it is the vehicle. The clue here given is in regard to the operations of Karma through the atoms that are used by the egos in their various incarnations. But in following this out it must not be forgotten that there is no particle or point of materiality which is not at the same time mixed with or in company with another principle - if the word may be used for this purpose - of spirit or the one life.

THE THREE GROUPS OF BUILDERS. These are as follows: The first is the group which constructs the entire system as a whole and which includes more than this globe system; the second is the group of builders who come in when the system as a great whole is ready and form the planetary chain of this earth; and the third is that group which builds or projects Humanity, as they are the great type of the microcosm - man. V. I, p. 128, second para.

THE LIPIKA AS COMPARED WITH THE BUILDERS are the great Spirits of the universe as a whole, the builders being of a special nature. The Lipika, like the others, are divided into three groups, but it is asserted that only the lowest of these three groups has to do with this system of ours and that the other two cannot be known, and also that those two are so high that it is doubtful if even the highest of the Adepts know about them. It may therefore be supposed that for the Adepts the Lipika of the higher degree are as great a mystery as the Mahatmas are for us, and that this ascending scale of greatness ever gives to the soul something still higher, no matter how far it may progress, to which to look and aspire. V.I, see whole of page 128.

But as each of the three groups is divided into seven others (p. 127), it may be the 21st sub-group which has to do with this globe; and it is said that as to the highest of the groups it is directly connected with our karma. V.I, p. 128, last line. Now as Karma rules the entire universe, it must follow, in order to make and keep harmony, that the "highest grade of Lipika" referred to on page 128 is not the highest of the last series of 21 sub-groups, but the highest of the whole three groups.

NOTE WELL. Whenever an "entity" is spoken of among the various "hosts" it is to be known as composed of many entities, just as man himself is similarly constituted, his total consciousness being that of the whole mass of beings who go to make up his intricate life.

From Pages 128 to 160, Vol. I

NIRMANAKAYAS. First reference to these on p. 132, note I, where they are called "the surviving spiritual principles of men," and in the text they are those who reincarnate for the good of the world if they choose.

ELECTRICITY AGAIN is mentioned as Life, p. 137, 4th line; also p. 139, line 17; also a form of "Fohat"; also p. 145, (b).

ETHER only partially manifested, and not to be fully so until the 5th Round, p. 140.

THAT ENTITIES ARE CONSTITUTED of many units, each an entity. Thus that "Fohat," elsewhere called "an Entity," is not one undivided entity but is made up of others; and that there are as many Fohats as there are worlds. Note 2, p. 143, and p. 145 (b).

ELIXIR OF LIFE. A hint thereupon. Note 2, p. 144.

ELEMENTALS CONCERNED in all forces, e.g. that electricity, magnetism, cohesion, and the like are made up of elementals. These of course, are not all of one class, but of several, p. 146. Near the end of this page it is inferentially stated that elementals are generated in millions by other beings. This must be, in fact, a transforming process in the atoms. By referring to p. 143 a broad hint will be found as to this in the remarks upon the "fate of an atom" once caught into any world sphere, and the means of getting through "a current of efflux." Is this efflux through the transforming being?

THE MOON. In what sense dead? Only as to her inner principles. Her physical principles are not dead, but have a certain activity, p. 149, note I. And her spiritual principles have been transferred to this earth, p. 155, note, and p. 156, line 6.

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE MOON will have occurred before this earth has passed through her 7th human round, p. 155, note.

ARCHETYPAL MAN ON GLOBE A. p. 159, last para. Here is a most interesting hint not often referred to and opening up a vista of thought. In the 1st round of the monads in this chain of planets, the monads from the preceding chain of worlds - say the moon's chain - become human beings on Globe A. But in the 2nd round the process alters, and it is in the 4th round that man appears on this earth, the 4th Globe. To quote: "on globe A man rebecomes a mineral, a plant, an animal, on globe B,C, etc. The process changes entirely from the 2d round, but - " This abruptness is to give the hint to intuitional investigators, and opens up as great a problem as the 8th sphere seemed once to be and still perhaps is. But we may ask if on Globe A - unseen by us - the archetypal process does not obtain?

From Pages 160 to 184, Vol. I

MARS AND MERCURY bear an occult relation to the earth which will not be explained. V. I., p. 163. This is not because no explanation exists, but because, as said (p. 164, footnote), these explanations belong to high grades of initiation.

FIGURES AND NUMBERS the key to the whole system. V. I., p. 164, last line. This has often been stated. Among the Jewish cabalists it is said that the Universe is built by number, weight, and measure, and that harmony is the law reigning over all. Now is the hint given be true, that figures and numbers will not be given for the above reasons, then it is useless for students to bother their minds about the occult meaning of numbers, as so many now do; for this occult meaning cannot be found without assistance.

VENUS IN HER 7TH ROUND. See italicized para.. on. p. 165, where it is said that that planet is in her last round. This must be her 7th. Hence the men there are as gods to us, and, if the argument from analogy is to be relied on, some of her great light must emanate from those beings and not all be from the sun.

MARS WITH TWO MOONS NOT HIS OWN. See p. 165, ital. para.. This is taken from the letter by a Master who, replying to the query as to why Mercury and Venus have no satellites, says: "It is because Mars has two to which he has no right and - for other reasons." That is, we infer that Mars absorbed these moons or dragged them off into his orbit at some time enormously distant and still keeps them. They cannot therefore stand to him in the same relation as our moon does to us. One of the "other reasons" may be that, Venus being in her 7th round, all vestiges of old moons have been sublimated and absorbed into her atmosphere.

ESOTERIC METAPHYSICS must be understood. V. I, p. 169 last para. This rule is laid down by the Adepts and is therefore of greater weight than if formulated by a student. It is useless to attempt to master the system on the lines of modern research, which at best are empirical, very faulty, and leading almost always to a materialization of the whole system. Metaphysics deal with the real because the ideal, and physical science with the phenomenal and therefore illusory and changeable.

EVOLUTION OF THE MONAD A BASIC PRINCIPLE. p. 171, Ist line, V. I. This is laid down with extreme clearness and should not be forgotten. It is not expanded so that inattentive minds may get it through much repetition, but it is postulated once for all. It is still altogether too customary for students to separate the Monads, first from the globes and then from the beings thereon. They cannot be thus divided off. All the globes and their objects are and ever will be monads in stages of evolution, just as we who now study the question are monads ourselves in other stages. The false notion should at once be discarded that there was a time when there were no monads on the globe but that there was here in waiting this ball of earth coming from no one knows where, and that later on monads arrived to occupy it.

If we carry out the principle laid down, then the globe is the creation of the monad; and when the globe is evolved, at once monads needing that experience enter into it corporeally to continue its existence. These later monads are those far behind in the race who will, in some succeeding period of evolution, be in a position to evolve on their own account some new globe in ages yet far distant, for the carrying on of the same process eternally. For, as a material object cannot spring out of nothing, neither can education or knowledge or ability to plan arise out of nothing, but must be based upon and flow from a prior experience or education. So it must be that even now there are monads encased in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms which have never been farther than that, and will during the remainder of the race evolution continue their education in those lower kingdoms until their time shall come when, the door opening for their exit, they will pass out and higher to make room for others.

LIMIT TO NUMBER OF MONADS. Although there can be no such thing as a metaphysical limit to the monads, yet practically, for the purpose of any one manvantara, there must be a limited number of monads included within its evolutionary sweep. Since a manvantara, however vast and inconceivable by us, is wholly a finite period, it sets its own limits - within the illimitable absolute - for the monads attracted to it. This of necessity must be, since the natural world which makes experience possible, being finite because material, sets the limits by reason of its capacity being bounded. See 1st para. p. 171, V. I.

FATE OF THE ANTHROPOID APES. This interesting question is raised first on pp. 173 and 175 V. I. and not disposed of. There, in describing the course of the evolution of the monad, it is said that the laggards will not be men at all in this cycle save one exception. On p. 184, 2d para. it seems to be answered. "In this Round...the anthropoids destined to die out in this our race when their monads will be liberated and pass into the astral human forms, or the highest elementals, of the Sixth and Seventh Races, and then into lowest human forms in the fifth Round..." These descendants of men through union with animals will thus be karmically rewarded in the next round after this, instead of having to wait until another manvantara.

From Pages 184 to 192, Vol. I

THE IMPULSE OF EVOLUTION is found in the force of the spiritual breath. It is not to be supposed because "human monads" cease to come into this chain of globes that therefore there is no impulse. The term "human monad" means that monad which having been through all lower experiences is fitted to inform the so-far perfected human body.

MAN FIRST IN THE 4TH ROUND. p. 187. The flow of human monad is at an end, except that those still incarcerated in the anthropoids have yet to come in. Full blown - or rather those that have been through all lower experiences - must proceed in their order through the strictly human evolution. The necessities of evolution demands this, and the turning point is reached in the fourth round which represents the square figure or number, and all monads in the lower kingdoms have to go on with the work of evolution in those until the next manvantara. At that time the monads now in human forms will have progressed beyond, thus leaving room for those below to come up higher.

OUR NATURES FROM WHAT. p. 189. In the note it is distinctly pointed out that the quotation from Shakespeare about our natures being marvelously mixed refers to the part which the Hierarchies of progressed souls throughout the system to which this globe belongs play in giving us our different combinations.

CORRESPONDENCE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION with the nebular evolution and condensation is to be found on these last lines of p. 191: "as the solid earth began by being a ball of liquid fire, of fiery dust and its protoplasmic phantom, so did man."

ORIGIN OF WHITE AND BLACK MAGIC. See note on p. 192, where it is stated that at the highest point of development of the Atlantean race - the fourth - the separation into right and left-hand magic, or consciously good and evil thoughts, took place. Under the action of Karmic law and by the reincarnation over and over again of those engaged in these thoughts, the thoughts were preserved in the realm of mind in the double form of mental deposits and astral impressions. The mental deposits were brought back again and again to earth life, and the astral impressions affected all others who came under their influence. In this way not only were seeds sown in individual minds through their own thoughts, but a vast reservoir of good and bad impressions or pictures has been created in the ethereal medium about us by which sensitive persons are impelled to good and bad acts. And all repetitions of evil thoughts have added to the stock of evil thus remaining to affect and afflict mankind . But as the good also remains, the earnest friends of mankind are able to produce good effects and impressions which in their turn are added to the sum of good. There need be no feeling of injustice on the ground that sensitive persons are affected by evil pictures in the astral light, because such possibility of being thus impressed could not have arisen except through sympathetic attractions for them set up in former lives.

About Theosophy

Theosophy, in its abstract meaning, is Divine Wisdom, or the aggregate of the knowledge and wisdom that underlie the Universe - the homogeneity of eternal GOOD; and in its concrete sense it is the sum total of the same as allotted to man by nature, on this earth, and no more.